The New York Mets could be looking at money problems, that is, if MLB commissioner Rob Manfred gets his way. The league wants to set a strict spending limit of $245.3 million for each team. They also want a minimum spending floor of $171.2 million. So for a rich team like the Mets, it is going to be trouble. The issue? More than 20 percent of their budget would go to one player, Juan Soto.

Soto, obviously, does not like this idea. He not only questioned the utility of a salary cap in MLB but also perceived it as detrimental to the league’s growth.

“I don’t think that’s right, to have a cap,” SNY Mets shared as The Athletic’s Will Sammon quoted Soto. “Baseball is doing great. We’ve been increasing every year. It’s been great for baseball. We are in the best moment in baseball right now in all kinds of ways. Why should we have a cap?”

Right now, eight MLB teams spend more than the proposed $245.3 million cap. Meanwhile, 12 teams spend less than the $171.2 million floor. According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the top-spending teams would need to reduce their payrolls by around $578 million, while the other 12 teams need to increase their payroll by around $617 million.

Hence, if the overall picture of MLB is considered, then the average payroll will increase for the teams. But that does not apply to the marquee contract holders like Soto. According to The Athletic, Soto is scheduled to earn $57.5 million in 2027. If the Mets’ total payroll is capped at $245.3 million, the largest chunk would just go to one name. That will make it very hard for them to build a complete 26-man roster.

The only silver lining was that the proposal is not yet finalized, and Manfred is open to more negotiations.

“I’m a simple soul when it comes to collective bargaining,” Manfred said. “Everybody gets to make their own proposals. I think if I said, ‘I’m not interested in increasing the minimum salary no matter what,’ I doubt that the union would say, ‘OK, that’s great; no minimum salary.’ It’s a process. We think we made a proposal that addresses probably the most significant business concern for us, and we think addressing that concern will have really significant upside for the owners and the players.”

Still, despite MLB’s push for a salary cap, the MLBPA is against it. Soto’s teammate and Mets union representative, David Peterson, agreed with Soto.

“It works in basketball in that way because they don’t have as many guys, so you have a lot fewer guys for the pot to go around, and that’s a league where one or two people on the team pretty much sell the team. That’s a lot harder to do in baseball,” Peterson explained.

In the NBA, teams have 15 players. One star like LeBron James can carry a team to the playoffs. But an active MLB roster has 26 players and up to 40 on the major league roster. It makes it impractical to tie up the entire cap space in just a few massive contracts. Bruce Meyer, a leader for the players’ union, did not like the league’s offer at all.

“I thought they would try harder to make it look good,” Meyer said.

So, Manfred, with his new proposal, just opened a new battle window. It also renewed the long-pending debate about whether higher payroll guarantees success.

Payrolls largely drive MLB’s success

The league wants a salary cap to make things fair for every team. Over the past ten years, teams that spend the most money have dominated the sport.

According to Feinsand, big-market teams have largely dominated in MLB over the past decade. For reference, in the last decade, 85% of the big-market teams have been to the World Series, and 90% of World Series winners came from top-15 media markets. The Kansas City Royals are the only small-market team to have won a World Series in 2015.

By contrast, small-market teams won five NFL titles and seven NBA titles over the last ten years by using a salary cap. So, it may look like bigger payrolls guarantee success in MLB, which, again, the Mets are proving wrong.

The Mets are currently ranked last in the NL East with a 27-35 record, with a payroll of around $360 million. Bigger names are struggling, except Soto. He is hitting .293 with 13 home runs so far this year. The real problem is that the rest of the expensive team is failing to support him.

Last year, the Mets also couldn’t secure a playoff spot despite splashing on Soto. Still, a higher budget increases the chance of winning a championship. But you need to have the right pieces in place to make the most of it.